I love survival games, and in fact downloading and playing the recent 'freebie' "Stranded Deep" from PS Plus reminded me of the amount of time I'd sink into those classic old Nintendo DS survival titles from back in the day (stuff like "Lost in Blue" for example, which ate up a ridiculous amount of time for a game that provided so little reward to the player other than just staying alive another day).
"Stranded Deep" seemed to be a bit basic and rudimentary but as soon as I discovered the more complex side to its crafting I was hooked, but then realised I wanted a little bit more from a survival game. Perhaps not quite as "more" as "The Forest" from EndNight Games supplies though, eek!
 |
| Ah Ah Ah Ah, stayin' alive, stayin' alive |
The game starts out just like Stranded Deep, in fact. You're on a plane with your son, a busy little chap who keeps himself busy flicking through a survival manual while the plane buffets its way through turbulence. Before long though something goes horribly wrong, and the plane ends up crashing on a remote peninsula in the middle of nowhere. Barely conscious, you open your eyes just long enough to see a menacing character picking your son up and making off with him.
Once you're mobile, you begin the desperate search for Eric, armed with whatever you can scrounge from the wreckage of the plane. Early on you're hungry and thirsty so probably gorge yourself on in-flight snacks and drinks (though don't go too crazy with the booze, that's a REALLY bad idea).
 |
| Pretty! |
As idyllic as your surroundings are, you are still haunted by the vision of the evil red-painted man who took Eric, and before your first night in the forest is up, you'll realise that you're definitely not alone. In fact, this led to one of the early moments of unease in a game that reminded me why I'm utterly pants at playing survival horror games. I usually play in the dark, with my headphones on, and I really don't deal with aural terrors very well at all. This game made me jump out of my seat as, for a brief moment, a visual eye icon flashed on screen - the signifier that I was being seen by...something. Two seconds later I jumped again as there was an inhuman scream. Wisely, I ducked into the nearest thicket of undergrowth to hide.
As daylight broke after a very long and restless night (in the game!) I realised it was time to put the game's crafting interface to the test. I wrote before about how Stranded Deep had a really clunky and annoying crafting interface. "The Forest" is the exact opposite, with a really nicely provided piece of UI design. The crafting takes place in the very survival manual your kid was reading on the plane. What's better still is that you craft the barebones outline of something, place it and THEN go hunting for the materials you'll need to build it, with helpful prompts telling you what to go and fetch. It also helps having an unbreakable axe from the get-go to hack down trees with, as most of your early recipes will be made of wood.
 |
| Noping the hell out of there |
The game's inventory is also similarly creative, like a gigantic 'picnic mat' containing all the materials you're carrying, and a rudimentary area to combine objects in order to make more complex crafted stuff, like torches or health-regenerating salves to heal your injuries. You'll definitely need the latter as those bloody cannibals don't waste much time in revisiting you as the game progresses.
In fact once you start to explore beyond the initial area around the stricken plane, you'll very quickly come across these nasty sods, living in a foetid village that seems to be largely made out of the bodies of dead passengers. Some are fairly easy to defeat with nought but your axe, but others are quick, determined and as tough as nails - better avoided than confronted. That includes their "boss", the guy who took your son, and the guy who you really don't want to mess with early on in the game.
I really enjoyed playing this despite the scares, and though I'm only a few hours in, I really want to get back to building something that'll help me stay alive a little bit longer (having died a couple of times already, once from dehydration and once from being nommed to death by cannibals). It's great to see a survival game that weaves a terrifying story into the mix rather than just presenting you with various crafting options (like Stranded Deep does). Though this one is a bit long in the tooth it can be picked up on the PS Store for a shade under £14, and for me so far it's well worth it. Recommended.
Comments
Post a Comment